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Progress on the northern front
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT Recent work on Germanic and Scandanavian religion H . R. Ellis Davidson Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge The main difficulty confronting the student of the religion and mythology of pagan Germany, Anglo-Saxon England and Scandinavia is that a number of different approaches have been made to the subject in recent years . There is unfortunately insufficient cooperation between scholars of different disciplines, and again between those working in the traditions of various European countries . Those who research or lecture on the pagan religion tend to concentrate either on the evidence from Icelandic literature or the more theoretical work of German scholars, each group showing at times surprising ignorance of the opposite field . We are further hampered by the fact that most of our literary evidence comes from the extreme west of Scandinavia, being recorded in Iceland a considerable time after the Conversion . Nevertheless progress is being made, and one of the most encouraging signs is a growing interest in northern paganism, and a greater understanding of the effects of its ritual, symbolism and tradition on men's mental outlook ; this is replacing the study of a `dead' mythology by scholars with little knowledge of comparative religion . The position of the subject in 1957 is well charted by Jan de Vries in two volumes in German, Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (2nd ed ., Berlin 1956-7) . This is an invaluable work, particularly as regards the Scandinavian material, since it deals with every aspect of religion and mythology, and the author has set out to give an objective and comprehensive picture, without letting his own theories obtrude unduly . It has a very full biography and an excellent index, and is clearly arranged to form an admirable work of reference . E . 0. G . Turville-Petre's Myth and Religion of the North (London, 1964), on the other hand, is an example of the Icelandic literary and philological approach, and is mainly confined to a study of the written evidence about the gods, although it provides some useful biographical material from the Scandinavian side . Here the existence of much important archaeological and art material is virtually ignored. 151
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PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
This side of the subject has made enormous strides during recent years, most of the work being published in German or the Scandinavian languages . A short survey of this is given in H. R . Ellis Davidson's Pagan Scandinavia (London, 1967), followed up in a more fully illustrated volume (though without detailed references), Scandinavian Mythology (London, 1969) . Work of the calibre of U . E. Hagberg, who discusses the evidence from excavations at the sacrificial site on the island of Oland in the Baltic (The Archaeology of Skedemosse, Stockholm, 1967), is clearly of importance for students of the history of religions, on account of the information which it provides about sacrifice in general and the horse cult in particular . Also worthy of note are various reports on the bog finds, with their strange record of elaborate sacrifices of food, ornaments and household objects on the one hand, and weapons and war equipment gained in battle on the other (e .g. A. Anderson, 'Det femte store Mosefund', Kuml I, 1951 ; M . Crsnes, `The weapon find in Ejsbol Mose at Haderslev', Acta Archaeologica 34, 1963) . The publication of P. V . Glob's Mosefolket (Copenhagen, 1965 ; English translation The Bog People, London, 1969), with its superb photographs of well-preserved bodies recovered from the peat bogs, has aroused much interest . He has however been guilty of some over-simplification in his confident explanation of the evidence as sacrifices to the deities of fertility ; those interested in the problems posed by such finds, of which an enormous number have been made in Denmark and northern Germany, should be aware of other possible interpretations, discussed by K . W . Struve ('Die Moorleiche von Datgen', Offa 24, 1 9 6 7, 33- 7 6 ), such as the theory that many of the bodies are those of criminals deposited well away from the community . The evidence of cemeteries and rich graves of the pagan or early Christian period continues to add to our knowledge of funeral rites as well as to contribute to our understanding of ritual objects and symbols, although once more theories of interpretation may prove conflicting . The long-awaited detailed report on the finds from the royal ship-grave at Sutton Hoo is expected this year, and evidence from that rich and puzzling burial from the transition period, when Christianity was only precariously established in East Anglia, must be of great importance to all students of northern religion . We know already that changes in the presentation of the evidence in the case of certain ritual objects is being made by those who have worked on their restoration, reminding us how misleading material evidence as well as literary texts may be when used as a basis for reconstructing religious beliefs . The dating of the grave much earlier than was first believed possible, on the evidence of the coins, is however a cheering feature for those who look for pre-Christian traditions in the form and arrangement of the burial . As regards archaeological material, the study by Peter Paulsen, Alamannische Adelsgraber von Niederstotzingen (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1967) with its thorough and learned investigation of much evidence from literature and art to throw light on funeral ritual and the symbolism of warrior graves, is a
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
1 53
model of its kind. Mention must also be made of the contribution of Karl Hauck in Goldbrakteaten aus Sievern (Munich, 1970), which also ranges over a wide field, the wealth of references constituting a valuable contribution in itself. The work of Professor Hauck on the cult of Wodan on the continent and Woden among the pagan Anglo-Saxons is of great importance for the understanding of northern paganism, and his study of the iconography of gold bracteates, the small round amulets which began as copies of Roman medallions and developed on vigorous lines of their own, takes the subject a good deal further . His great contribution has been the use of modern photographic methods to reveal previously unknown detail of the figures and scenes on the bracteates, and to put together all available variants of one particular motif ; he claims that as a result he has a number of mythological scenes associated with the cult of Wodan-Odin as god of creation, inspiration and healing . Further work on this topic must be eagerly awaited by all concerned with Germanic religion . There are important side-issues included in his book, among them a preliminary study by H . Vierck of the motif of the bearded face which occurs on large numbers of Anglo-Saxon brooches ; this is based on a systematic study of Anglo-Saxon ornament carried out by Dr . Vierck while working in England . The disappointing lack of temple sites from the heathen period was brought sharply into prominence by Olav Olsen in his monograph Horg, Hov og Kirke (Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1965) . He has challenged the assumption that descriptions of temples in Icelandic saga literature and elsewhere are based on memories of the pagan period, and that the element hof in place-names indicates the existence of a temple in pagan times . An exhaustive study in Denmark has failed to produce evidence for pagan buildings undertexisting Christian churches, and he argues that allusions to temples and elaborate idols are due to Christian writers making assumptions about the heathens based on the Bible, backed up by speculations about local remains made in m n cases by nineteenth century antiquarians. It seems more likely that elaborate public ceremonies took place out of doors, while the sacrificial feasts, clearly of major importance in Scandinavia, were held inside the halls of important men, probably the local chieftains who in Iceland officiated at such functions . Small shrines may have protected the figures of the gods, but would not be used for public worship like a church . This study raises once more the whole question of Germanic priesthood, which greatly needs further investigation . Since it appeared, a claim has been made by H . Lid6n that there is archaeological evidence for a sanctuary of the pre-Christian period beneath Maere church in Trendelag in Norway, a centre of worship in pagan times . Traces of a wooden building have been found, with evidence for votive offerings and a number of tiny gullgubber, minute squares of gold foil bearing what are thought to be figures of the fertility deities . Discoveries of this kind are all too rare, and we can only hope for more information to solve problems concerning the worship of the Germanic gods, and the exact significance
1 54
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
of the high seat pillars which seem to have been so important in early Norway and Iceland. The significance of rites and symbols and their effect on the life and thought of men and women in the pre-Christian period have been dealt with in a number of studies : by H. R. Ellis Davidson, in Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin, 1964) and The Battle-God of the Vikings (University of York Medieval Monographs, no . 1, 1972) ; by R. Derolez, `La Divination chez les Germains', one of a series of studies on divination in the religions of the past (La Divination, edited by Andre Caquot and Marcel Leibovici, 2 vols ., Paris, 1968) ; by A. V. Strum in `Scandinavian Belief in Fate' (Symposium on Fatalistic Beliefs, Stockholm, 1967) ; and by Regis Boyer in an introduction to the mythological material from Scandinavia, in the series Le Tresor spiritual de l'humanite (Paris, 1974) . The last three establish the great importance of the drawing of lots and various other practices of divination as a means of establishing communication with the divine world, and the position held by Fate as a supreme power in northern pagan culture . Another valuable approach is the study of the shamanistic elements which have been recognized in Old Norse literature, since Dag Stromback's study on Sejd was published in 1933 ; these were further emphasized by Mircea Eliade in his extensive work on shamanism, Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase (Paris, 1951 : available in English as : Shamanism : Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Bollingen Series LXXVI, Princeton, 1964) . The systematic work done by P . Buchholz in his thesis on Schamanistische ,huge in der altislandischen tiberlieferung (Bamberg, 1968) further establishes the importance of this subject . We may also note an article by W . Kiil, 'Hlidskjalf og seidhallr' (Arkiv for nordisk filologi 75, 1 g6o) which seeks to establish the seat of the Norse seer as part of a shamanistic technique . We shall certainly hear more of this subject in the future, since recent progress by German, Soviet and American scholars in publishing accounts of shamanistic rites from Siberia and elsewhere has greatly extended the amount of comparative material available . The question of how far shamanistic elements in Old Norse literature are based on early practices in Germanic paganism, or how far they have been reinforced by influences coming from eastern Europe in the Viking Age, is clearly of importance for our better understanding of the mythology of the North . There have been many publications on specialized subjects, of which I mention only a few . On the Sigurd legend, the survey by E . Ploss, Siegfried-Sigurd der Drachenkampfer, (Bonner Jahrbucher, additional volume no. 17, 1966) contains some unusual material, showing how such legends can be seen against the background of medieval thought as a kind of science fiction approach rather than that of the fairy tale. The information which he gains from a wide collection of dragon-slaying scenes in painting and carving is of great value, and this was carried further by the exhibition of Sigurd carvings held in Oslo in 1973, from which we may expect more publications to ensue . In such a field, the work of the art historian affords valuable help to the student of myth and religion .
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
1 55
The study of the conception of kingship among the Germanic peoples has been extended by the careful work of the historian J . M. WallaceHadrill. (Early Germanic Kingship in England and on the Continent, Oxford, 1971) . On this subject, J . E. Fleck, in articles like 'Konr, Ottarr, Geirrobr' in Scandinavian Studies (42, 197o) and `The Knowledge-Criterion in the Grimnismdl' in Arkiv for nordisk filologi (86, 1971) seeks to link the concept of sacral kingship in Scandinavia with the acquisition of mantic knowledge ; more detailed work is needed on this important theme . On the more literary side, a collection of essays by A . Holtsmark (Studier i norron diktning, Oslo, 1956) shows how the work of the philologist can help when combined with an imaginative understanding of the pagan way of thought . Helpful work on the pagan elements in Anglo-Saxon placenames has been produced by Margaret Gelling in the University of Birmingham Historical Journal (VIII, 1961) and more recently in Otium and Negotium (Studies presented to Olof von Feilitzen, Stockholm, 1973), which will be indispensable to any serious student of the subject . Meanwhile discussion goes on continually over what may be learnt of the pagan religion from surviving runic inscriptions, some of which may be seen as the only direct utterances left by the worshippers of the Germanic gods . Since however these early inscriptions offer wide margin for error, many attractive theories do not stand up to the tests of time and progress in research . Karl Schneider's paper on certain Anglo-Saxon inscriptions which he interprets as indicating a ritual use for the objects on which they have been cut ('Runische Inschriftzeugnisse zum Stieropferkult der Angelsachsen', Festschrift fur Edgar Mertner, Munich, 1969), may be noted, as well as a short but valuable paper by Christopher Hawkes on the earlier use of runes ('Runes and the Caput Adriae', Adriatica, Zagreb, 1970) . The recent book by R . I. Page, An Introduction to English Runes (London, 1973), indicates some of the difficulties offered by the inscriptions of the Anglo-Saxons . In making this limited selection from an enormous field of works which have some relevance to the study of Germanic and Scandinavian religion, I must once more stress the problems of research in this field, urging more cooperation between scholars in widely separate provinces . The fact that the study of early religion occupies so small a part in the teaching in our universities makes progress slow and difficult, although to many of us it appears to be a subject of importance in the history of religions as a whole, as well as part of our own cultural heritage .
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PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
This side of the subject has made enormous strides during recent years, most of the work being published in German or the Scandinavian languages . A short survey of this is given in H. R . Ellis Davidson's Pagan Scandinavia (London, 1967), followed up in a more fully illustrated volume (though without detailed references), Scandinavian Mythology (London, 1969) . Work of the calibre of U . E. Hagberg, who discusses the evidence from excavations at the sacrificial site on the island of Oland in the Baltic (The Archaeology of Skedemosse, Stockholm, 1967), is clearly of importance for students of the history of religions, on account of the information which it provides about sacrifice in general and the horse cult in particular . Also worthy of note are various reports on the bog finds, with their strange record of elaborate sacrifices of food, ornaments and household objects on the one hand, and weapons and war equipment gained in battle on the other (e .g. A. Anderson, 'Det femte store Mosefund', Kuml I, 1951 ; M . Crsnes, `The weapon find in Ejsbol Mose at Haderslev', Acta Archaeologica 34, 1963) . The publication of P. V . Glob's Mosefolket (Copenhagen, 1965 ; English translation The Bog People, London, 1969), with its superb photographs of well-preserved bodies recovered from the peat bogs, has aroused much interest . He has however been guilty of some over-simplification in his confident explanation of the evidence as sacrifices to the deities of fertility ; those interested in the problems posed by such finds, of which an enormous number have been made in Denmark and northern Germany, should be aware of other possible interpretations, discussed by K . W . Struve ('Die Moorleiche von Datgen', Offa 24, 1 9 6 7, 33- 7 6 ), such as the theory that many of the bodies are those of criminals deposited well away from the community . The evidence of cemeteries and rich graves of the pagan or early Christian period continues to add to our knowledge of funeral rites as well as to contribute to our understanding of ritual objects and symbols, although once more theories of interpretation may prove conflicting . The long-awaited detailed report on the finds from the royal ship-grave at Sutton Hoo is expected this year, and evidence from that rich and puzzling burial from the transition period, when Christianity was only precariously established in East Anglia, must be of great importance to all students of northern religion . We know already that changes in the presentation of the evidence in the case of certain ritual objects is being made by those who have worked on their restoration, reminding us how misleading material evidence as well as literary texts may be when used as a basis for reconstructing religious beliefs . The dating of the grave much earlier than was first believed possible, on the evidence of the coins, is however a cheering feature for those who look for pre-Christian traditions in the form and arrangement of the burial . As regards archaeological material, the study by Peter Paulsen, Alamannische Adelsgraber von Niederstotzingen (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1967) with its thorough and learned investigation of much evidence from literature and art to throw light on funeral ritual and the symbolism of warrior graves, is a
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
1 53
model of its kind. Mention must also be made of the contribution of Karl Hauck in Goldbrakteaten aus Sievern (Munich, 1970), which also ranges over a wide field, the wealth of references constituting a valuable contribution in itself. The work of Professor Hauck on the cult of Wodan on the continent and Woden among the pagan Anglo-Saxons is of great importance for the understanding of northern paganism, and his study of the iconography of gold bracteates, the small round amulets which began as copies of Roman medallions and developed on vigorous lines of their own, takes the subject a good deal further . His great contribution has been the use of modern photographic methods to reveal previously unknown detail of the figures and scenes on the bracteates, and to put together all available variants of one particular motif ; he claims that as a result he has a number of mythological scenes associated with the cult of Wodan-Odin as god of creation, inspiration and healing . Further work on this topic must be eagerly awaited by all concerned with Germanic religion . There are important side-issues included in his book, among them a preliminary study by H . Vierck of the motif of the bearded face which occurs on large numbers of Anglo-Saxon brooches ; this is based on a systematic study of Anglo-Saxon ornament carried out by Dr . Vierck while working in England . The disappointing lack of temple sites from the heathen period was brought sharply into prominence by Olav Olsen in his monograph Horg, Hov og Kirke (Aarboger for Nordisk Oldkyndighed og Historie, 1965) . He has challenged the assumption that descriptions of temples in Icelandic saga literature and elsewhere are based on memories of the pagan period, and that the element hof in place-names indicates the existence of a temple in pagan times . An exhaustive study in Denmark has failed to produce evidence for pagan buildings undertexisting Christian churches, and he argues that allusions to temples and elaborate idols are due to Christian writers making assumptions about the heathens based on the Bible, backed up by speculations about local remains made in m n cases by nineteenth century antiquarians. It seems more likely that elaborate public ceremonies took place out of doors, while the sacrificial feasts, clearly of major importance in Scandinavia, were held inside the halls of important men, probably the local chieftains who in Iceland officiated at such functions . Small shrines may have protected the figures of the gods, but would not be used for public worship like a church . This study raises once more the whole question of Germanic priesthood, which greatly needs further investigation . Since it appeared, a claim has been made by H . Lid6n that there is archaeological evidence for a sanctuary of the pre-Christian period beneath Maere church in Trendelag in Norway, a centre of worship in pagan times . Traces of a wooden building have been found, with evidence for votive offerings and a number of tiny gullgubber, minute squares of gold foil bearing what are thought to be figures of the fertility deities . Discoveries of this kind are all too rare, and we can only hope for more information to solve problems concerning the worship of the Germanic gods, and the exact significance
1 54
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
of the high seat pillars which seem to have been so important in early Norway and Iceland. The significance of rites and symbols and their effect on the life and thought of men and women in the pre-Christian period have been dealt with in a number of studies : by H. R. Ellis Davidson, in Gods and Myths of Northern Europe (Penguin, 1964) and The Battle-God of the Vikings (University of York Medieval Monographs, no . 1, 1972) ; by R. Derolez, `La Divination chez les Germains', one of a series of studies on divination in the religions of the past (La Divination, edited by Andre Caquot and Marcel Leibovici, 2 vols ., Paris, 1968) ; by A. V. Strum in `Scandinavian Belief in Fate' (Symposium on Fatalistic Beliefs, Stockholm, 1967) ; and by Regis Boyer in an introduction to the mythological material from Scandinavia, in the series Le Tresor spiritual de l'humanite (Paris, 1974) . The last three establish the great importance of the drawing of lots and various other practices of divination as a means of establishing communication with the divine world, and the position held by Fate as a supreme power in northern pagan culture . Another valuable approach is the study of the shamanistic elements which have been recognized in Old Norse literature, since Dag Stromback's study on Sejd was published in 1933 ; these were further emphasized by Mircea Eliade in his extensive work on shamanism, Le Chamanisme et les techniques archaiques de l'extase (Paris, 1951 : available in English as : Shamanism : Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, Bollingen Series LXXVI, Princeton, 1964) . The systematic work done by P . Buchholz in his thesis on Schamanistische ,huge in der altislandischen tiberlieferung (Bamberg, 1968) further establishes the importance of this subject . We may also note an article by W . Kiil, 'Hlidskjalf og seidhallr' (Arkiv for nordisk filologi 75, 1 g6o) which seeks to establish the seat of the Norse seer as part of a shamanistic technique . We shall certainly hear more of this subject in the future, since recent progress by German, Soviet and American scholars in publishing accounts of shamanistic rites from Siberia and elsewhere has greatly extended the amount of comparative material available . The question of how far shamanistic elements in Old Norse literature are based on early practices in Germanic paganism, or how far they have been reinforced by influences coming from eastern Europe in the Viking Age, is clearly of importance for our better understanding of the mythology of the North . There have been many publications on specialized subjects, of which I mention only a few . On the Sigurd legend, the survey by E . Ploss, Siegfried-Sigurd der Drachenkampfer, (Bonner Jahrbucher, additional volume no. 17, 1966) contains some unusual material, showing how such legends can be seen against the background of medieval thought as a kind of science fiction approach rather than that of the fairy tale. The information which he gains from a wide collection of dragon-slaying scenes in painting and carving is of great value, and this was carried further by the exhibition of Sigurd carvings held in Oslo in 1973, from which we may expect more publications to ensue . In such a field, the work of the art historian affords valuable help to the student of myth and religion .
PROGRESS ON THE NORTHERN FRONT
1 55
The study of the conception of kingship among the Germanic peoples has been extended by the careful work of the historian J . M. WallaceHadrill. (Early Germanic Kingship in England and on the Continent, Oxford, 1971) . On this subject, J . E. Fleck, in articles like 'Konr, Ottarr, Geirrobr' in Scandinavian Studies (42, 197o) and `The Knowledge-Criterion in the Grimnismdl' in Arkiv for nordisk filologi (86, 1971) seeks to link the concept of sacral kingship in Scandinavia with the acquisition of mantic knowledge ; more detailed work is needed on this important theme . On the more literary side, a collection of essays by A . Holtsmark (Studier i norron diktning, Oslo, 1956) shows how the work of the philologist can help when combined with an imaginative understanding of the pagan way of thought . Helpful work on the pagan elements in Anglo-Saxon placenames has been produced by Margaret Gelling in the University of Birmingham Historical Journal (VIII, 1961) and more recently in Otium and Negotium (Studies presented to Olof von Feilitzen, Stockholm, 1973), which will be indispensable to any serious student of the subject . Meanwhile discussion goes on continually over what may be learnt of the pagan religion from surviving runic inscriptions, some of which may be seen as the only direct utterances left by the worshippers of the Germanic gods . Since however these early inscriptions offer wide margin for error, many attractive theories do not stand up to the tests of time and progress in research . Karl Schneider's paper on certain Anglo-Saxon inscriptions which he interprets as indicating a ritual use for the objects on which they have been cut ('Runische Inschriftzeugnisse zum Stieropferkult der Angelsachsen', Festschrift fur Edgar Mertner, Munich, 1969), may be noted, as well as a short but valuable paper by Christopher Hawkes on the earlier use of runes ('Runes and the Caput Adriae', Adriatica, Zagreb, 1970) . The recent book by R . I. Page, An Introduction to English Runes (London, 1973), indicates some of the difficulties offered by the inscriptions of the Anglo-Saxons . In making this limited selection from an enormous field of works which have some relevance to the study of Germanic and Scandinavian religion, I must once more stress the problems of research in this field, urging more cooperation between scholars in widely separate provinces . The fact that the study of early religion occupies so small a part in the teaching in our universities makes progress slow and difficult, although to many of us it appears to be a subject of importance in the history of religions as a whole, as well as part of our own cultural heritage .